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Source: The post is based on the article “Gujarat’s Harappan necropolis reveals death rituals of 5,000 years ago” published in The Hindu on 13th January 2023.
What is the News?
Excavations at one of the biggest necropolises at Juna Khatiya village (Kutch, Gujarat) show rows of graves with valuable items such as Ceramic pots, beaded jewellery, animal bones etc.
About Juna Khatiya Site
It is located about 30 km from Lakhpat in Kutch district, Gujarat.
It has emerged as one of the biggest Harappan burial sites with the possibility of 500 graves of which about 125 have been found so far.
The archaeologists found rows of graves with skeletal remains, ceramic pots, plates and vases, beaded jewellery and animal bones.
The burials discovered at this site date from 3,200 BCE to 2,600 BCE, predating Dholavira—a UNESCO World Heritage Site—and several other Harappan sites in the state.
The site is important because others like Dholavira have a cemetery in and around the town, but no major habitation has been discovered near Juna Khatiya.
The site demonstrates the transition from earth-mound burials to stone graves. The pottery from the site has features and styles similar to those excavated from early Harappan sites in Sindh and Balochistan.